Court Bars N.J. Man From Suing District Again

A grand jury in New Jersey has indicted a local school
superintendent and his predecessor on charges of official misconduct
and falsifying or tampering with public records.

The indictment, handed up this month, relates to state funds the
Lyndhurst school district received for 1991-92.

Named in the indictment were Superintendent Joseph Abate Jr., who
was the district's business administrator at the time of the alleged
improprieties, and G. Donald Travisano, the former superintendent, who
is now retired.

According to court documents, the two men knowingly submitted false
financial information to state education officials with the intent of
obtaining $1.5 million in state aid that Lyndhurst otherwise would have
been ineligible to receive.

A state law-enforcement report issued last fall implicated several
state legislators and members of their staffs for engaging in
questionable political practices in connection with the incident. (See
Education Week, Sept. 15, 1993.)

'Sacrificial Lambs'

None of the legislative officials were named in the indictment,
however. Also spared were aides to former Gov. James J. Florio, several
of whom had been implicated in the report.

Under the state constitution, lawmakers and their aides are immune
from criminal prosecution for acts performed in connection with their
official duties, according to George Kugler, the independent counsel
who presented the case to the grand jury.

But a lawyer for Mr. Abate contended that his client and Mr.
Travisano have been unfairly caught in a political crossfire.

"The educators will be the sacrificial lambs,'' said the lawyer,
Robert Galantucci.

Mr. Galantucci also argued that officials cannot be granted immunity
for the commission of criminal acts.

Moreover, Mr. Galantucci said, Mr. Abate had alerted state officials
to the budget mistakes that led to the improper funding.

Other individuals may be named in a sealed presentment handed up to
Superior Court Judge Samuel D. Lenox Jr. by the grand jury.

According to state officials, a presentment is a finding by a grand
jury relating to public affairs. It may censure or condemn public
officials.

The presentment will be kept secret until unsealed by the court.

Began With Computer Error

The report released last fall traced the origin of the affair to a
computer error that provided Lyndhurst with an additional $1.7 million
in state aid.

Upon discovery of the mistake, then-Commissioner of Education John
Ellis ordered the district to return the funds. He recommended that
Lyndhurst officials apply for a grant from a pool of money set up to
ease districts through a change in the state school-finance system.

Lyndhurst was awarded a $1.5 million grant under that program. But
state officials later charged that the district had used the money to
offset a local property-tax increase, rather than for its stated
purpose of funding education programs, and ordered that that money be
reimbursed as well.

Through the efforts of Democratic lawmakers, the district
subsequently received $1.5 million from a separate program run by the
state community-affairs department. A civil lawsuit is pending to
recoup that money.

During the investigation, Mr. Ellis charged that legislators and
staff aides unduly pressured him to grant Lyndhurst money.

Some of the lawmakers acknowledged that they had lobbied the
commissioner, but said they were innocent of any wrongdoing.

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